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Abraham Lincoln 



DISCOVERIES 

f-i^v., isxi^d ) AND ^^^^^^^ 

INVENTIONS 

A LECTURE BY 

ABRAHAM LINCOLN 

DELIVERED IN 

i860 



SAN FRANCISCO 

JOHN HOWELL 

1915 




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A PREFATORY NOTE 



Di 



id In- 



The Lectm^e —^^ LJtscovertes 
ventions' '—by our greatest American^ 
presents a phase of Lincoln s activity 
about which little is generally known. 
It shows as clearly as any of his other 
writings how greaft was Lincoln's 
knowledge of the progress of mankind^ 
particularly as related in theBible^and 
it reveals also his debt to that Book of 
Books for inspiration and illustration^ 
as well as his masterly use of pure 
English^ largely gained through that 
study. 

In the fateful year of i860, the year 
of his election to the i>residencv^ Lincoln 



Zp'i 



tency^ 



took up, in the pause of his affairs after 
the long debate with Dotcglas, the cus- 
tom of lyceum lecturi?ig,then in great 



vogue. This lecture on '^Discoveries and 
Inventions'^ was delivered in towns 
near his home^ Springfield^ Illinois^ and 
in Springfield it selfi on Washington s 
birthday. Five days laterLincoln made 
his great speech at Cooper Union i7i 
New York, 

The lecture is not included with any 
collection of Ljin coin s addresses, Itap- 
pearedinprintforthefirsttime in ^Mn- 
sQX.y[2ig2iZ\n^inigog— the centennial 
of Lincoln' s birth. 

The originalmanuscript from which 
this edition^ the first in book form ^ is 
made^ was a cherished possession of the 
late Dr, Samuel Houston Melvin^ of 
Oakland^ California ^formerly a resi- 
dent of Springfield, Illinois^ and a 
friend of Mr, Lincoln, fust prior to 
Dr, Melvi?i s death, in i8q8, he made 



an affidavit setting forth the history 
of the manuscript; that statement is as 
follows: 



MEMORANDUM OF 

CERTAIN FACTS FOR INFORMATION OF 

THOSE WHO FOLLOW AFTER 

In the month of February^ i86i^ being at that 
time a resident of Springfield^ Illinois^ I called one 
evening at the residence of my friend ^Dr. John Todd. 
The do^or was an uncle of Mrs. Abraham Lincoln. 
While there Mr. Lincoln came in^ bringing with 
him a wellfilled satchel^remarking as he set it down 
that it contained his literary bureau. Mr. Lincoln 
remained some fifteen or twenty minutes^ conversing 
mainly about the details of his prospective trip to 
Washington the following week^ and told us of the 
arrangements agreed upon for the family to follow 
him a few days later. When about to leave he hand- 
ed the grip above referred to to Mrs. Grimsley, the 
only daughter of Dr. Todd, who was then a widow 
but who subsequently became the wife of Rev. Dr. 
John H. Brown, a Presbyterian minister located in 
Springfield, remarking as he did so that he would 
leave the bureau in her charge; that if he ever re- 
turned to Springfield he would claim it, but if not 
she might make such disposition of its contents as she 
deemed proper. A tone of indescribable sadness was 



noted in the latter part of the sentence. Lincoln had 
shown me quite a number of letters a few days be- 
fore^ threatening his life, some predicting that he 
never would be inaugurated, and it was apparent 
to me that they were making an impression upon his 
mind, although he tried to laugh the matter off. 
About five years later the Nation was startled by 
the announcement of Lincoln s assassination. "The 
corporation of Springfield selected twelve of its citi- 
zens to proceed at once to Washington and accom- 
pany the remains of the dead President back to his 
old home. I was one of that number, and shall never 
forget the indescribable sadness manifested by mil- 
lions of mourners along the route of travel of the 
funeral cortege as it wended its way westward over 
two thousand miles. A few evenings after his body 
was laid to rest, I again called upon my neighbors, 
the family of Dr. 'Todd. Scenes and incidents con- 
ne^edwith the assassination and funeral of the dead 
President were discussed, and the remark made by 
Lincoln on his last visit to the house was referred 
to as indicating a presentiment that he would not 
return alive. This recalled the fa£f of his having 
left his so-called literary bureau, and his injun^ion 
as to its disposition. Mrs. Grimsley brought the grip 
from the place where it had been stored, and opened 
it with a view to examining its contents. Among 
them was found this manuscript, and attached to it 
by means of a piece of red tape was another of like 
character. They proved to be manuscripts of two 



lectures which he had prepared and delivered with- 
in a year prior to his eleSlion to the presidency— one 
at Jacksonville ^Illinois ^ and a few days later at De- 
catur ^Illinois; the other a little later at Cook' s Hall ^ 
Springfield, Illinois, at which I was present. Mrs. 
Grimsley told me to seleB from the contents of the 
bureau any one of the manuscripts it contained; and 
supposing at that titne that the two manuscripts be- 
longed to the same le^ure, I selected them. On sub- 
sequent examination I discovered that while they 
both treated upon the same subje^ (Inventions and 
Discoveries) they were separate lectures. T'wenty- 
five years later I disposed of one of the manuscripts 
to Mr. Gunther^' of Chicago. I'he other it is my hope 
and desire shall remain in possession of my family 
and its descendants. 

The manuscript is now owned by Dr, 
Melvin V son^ the Honor able Henry A, 
Melvin^ayusticeoftheSiipremeCourt 
of California^ through whose courtesy 
this edition is published. 



*This ivas published in ^^ Addresses and Letters of Lincoln,^ ^ The Century 
Company^ 1^04. 



DISCOVERIES AND INVENTIONS 

A LECTURE BY 
ABRAHAM LINCOLN 

^ LL creation is a mine, and every man 
/ ^k a miner. 
f ^^ The whole earth, and all within 
.A^ JIL. it, upon it, and round about it, in- 
cluding himself, in his physical, moral, and 
intellediual nature, and his susceptibilities, 
are the infinitely various ^'leads'' from which, 
man, from the first, was to dig out his destiny. 

In the beginning, the mine was unopened, 
and the miner stood naked, and know ledge less, 
upon it. 

Fishes, birds, beasts, and creeping things, 
are not miners, hnt feeders and lodgers merely. 
Beavers build houses ; but they build them in 
nowise differently, or better now, than they 
did, five thousand years ago. Ants and honey 
bees provide food for winter; but just in the 
same way they did, when Solomon referred 
the sluggard to them as patterns of prudence. 

Man is not the only animal who labors; 
but he is the only one who improves his 
workmanship. This improvement he effects 



by Discoveries and Inventions. His first im- 
portant discovery was the fa6l that he was 
naked ; and his first invention was the fig-leaf 
apron. This simple article, the apron, made 
of leaves, seems to have been the origin of 
clothing — the one thing for which nearly half 
of the toil and care of the human race has 
ever since been expended. The most impor- 
tant improvement ever made in conned:ion 
with clothing, was the invention oi spinning 
and 'weaving. The spinning jenny, and pow- 
er loom, invented in modern times, though 
great improvements ,^o wot^ as inventions ^ rank 
with the ancient arts of spinning and weav- 
ing. Spinning and weaving brought into 
the department of clothing such abundance 
and variety of material. Wool, the hair of 
several species of animals, hemp, flax, cot- 
ton, silk, and perhaps other articles, were all 
suited to it, affording garments not only 
adapted to wet and dry, heat and cold, but 
also susceptible of high degrees of orna- 
mental finish. Exactly when^ or where^ spin- 
ning and weaving originated is not known. 
At the first interview of the Almighty with 
Adam and Eve, after the fall. He made 



"coats of skins, and clothed them" ( Genesis 
iii: 2i). 

The Bible makesno other allusion to cloth- 
ing, before the flood. Soon after the deluge 
Noah's two sons covered him with a gar- 
ment; but of what tnaterial the garment was 
made is not mentioned (Genesis ix: 23). 

Abraham mentions "//zr^^*^" in such con- 
nection asto indicatethat spinningand weav- 
ing were in use in his day (Genesis xiv: 23), 
and soon after,reference to the art is frequent- 
ly made. ^^Line?i breeches" are mentioned 
(Exodus xxviii: 42), and it is said "all the 
women that were wise-hearted did spi?i with 
their hands" (Exodus xxxv: 25), and, "all 
the women whose heart stirred them up in 
wisdom spun goats' hair ' ' ( Exodus xxxv: 26). 
The work of the ^^iveaver' is mentioned 
(Exodus xxxv: 35). In the book of Job, a 
very old book, date not exactly known, the 
*^ weavers' shuttle''' is mentioned. 

The above mention oi^^thread"hY Abra- 
ham is the oldest recorded allusion to spinning 
and weaving; and it was made about two 
thousand years after the creation of man, and 
now, near four thousand years ago. Profane 



authors think these arts originated in Egypt ; 
and this is not contradicted, or made improb- 
able, by anything in the Bible; for the allu- 
sion of Abraham, mentioned, was not made 
until after he had sojourned in Egypt. 

The discovery of the properties of iron, 
and the making oiiron tools, must have been 
among the earliest of important discoveries 
and inventions. We can scarcely conceive 
the possibility of making much of anything 
else, without the use of iron tools. Indeed, 
an iron hammer must have been very much 
needed to make \Sit, first iron hammer with. 
A stone probably served as a substitute. How 
could the ^'■gopher wood'' for the Ark have 
been gotten out without an axe? It seems to 
me an axe, or a miracle, was indispensable. 
Corresponding with the prime necessity for 
iron, we find at least one very early notice 
of it. Tubal-Cain was "an instructor of every 
artificer in brass and iro?i'' (Genesis iv: 22). 
Tubal-Cain was the seventh in descent from 
Adam ; and his birth was about one thousand 
years before the flood. After the flood, fre- 
quent mention is made of iron, and instru- 
?nents made of iron. Thus "instrument of 



iron" at Numbers xxxv: i6; "bedstead of 
iron" at Deuteronomy iii: 1 1 ;" the iron fur- 
nace" at Deuteronomy iv: 20, and "iron 
tool" at Deuteronomy xxvii: 5. At Deuter- 
onomy xix: 5, very distinct mention of "the 
ax to cut down the tree" is made; and also 
at Deuteronomy viii: 9, the promised land 
is described as "a land whose stones are iron, 
andout of whose hills thou mayest digbrass." 
From the somewhat frequent mention of 
brass in connection with iron, it is not im- 
probable that brass — perhaps what we now 
call copper — was used by the ancients for 
some of the same purposes as iron. 

'Transportation — the removal of person and 
goodsfrom placeto place — would be an early 
objeB^ if not a necessity^ with man. By his 
natural powers of locomotion, and without 
much assistance from discovery and inven- 
tion, he could move himself about with con- 
siderable facility; and even, could carry small 
burthens with him. But very soon he would 
wish to lessen the labor, while he might, at 
the same time, extend, and expedite the busi- 
ness. For thisobje6t,wheel-carriages,and wa- 
ter-crafts — wagons and boats — are the most 



important inventions. The use of the wheel 
and axle has been so long known , that it is dif- 
ficult, without refled:ion, to estimate it at its 
true value. The oldestrecordedallusiontothe 
wheel and axle is the mention of a "chariot" 
(Genesis xli: 43). This was in Egypt, upon 
the occasion of Joseph being made governor 
by Pharaoh. It was about twenty-five hun- 
dred years after the creation of Adam. That 
the chariot then mentioned was a wheel- 
carriage drawn by animals is sufficiently 
evidenced by the mention of chariot wheels 
(Exodus xiv: 25), and the mention of char- 
iots in connection with horses in the same 
chapter, verses 9 and 23. So much, at pres- 
ent, for land transportation. 

Now, as to transportation by water, I have 
concluded, without sufficient authority per- 
haps, to use the term *'boat" as a general 
name for all water-craft. The boat is indis- 
pensable to navigation. It is not probable 
that the philosophical principle upon which 
the use of the boat primarily depends — to- 
wit, the principle^ that anything will float, 
which cannot sink without displacing more 
than its own weight of water — was known, 



or even thought of, before the first boats were 
made. The sight of a crow standing on a 
piece of driftwood floating down the swollen 
current of a creek or river, might well enough 
suggest the specific idea to a savage, that he 
could himself get upon a log, or on two logs 
tied together, and somehow work his way 
to the opposite shore of the same stream. 
Such a suggestion, so taken, would be the 
birth of navigation; and such, not improba- 
bly, it really was. The leading idea was thus 
caught ; and whatever came afterwards, were 
but improvements upon, andauxiliaries to, it. 

As man is a land animal, it might be ex- 
pected he would learn to travel by land some- 
what earlier than he would by water. Still 
the crossing of streams, somewhat too deep 
for wading, would be an early necessity with 
him. If we pass by the Ark, which may be 
regarded as belonging rather to the miracu- 
lous than to hwnan invention, the first notice 
we have of water-craft is the mention of 
"ships" by Jacob (Genesis xlix: i 3). It is not 
till we reach the book of Isaiah that we meet 
with the mention of "oars" and "sails." 

As m2in^food — his first necessity — was to 



be derived from the vegetation of the earth, 
it was natural that his first care should be 
directed to the assistance of that vegetation. 
And accordingly we find that, even before 
the fall, the man was put into the garden of 
Eden "to dress it, and to keep it." And when 
afterwards, in consequence of the first trans- 
gression, labor was imposed on the race, as a 
penalty — a curse — we find the first born man — 
the first heir of the curse — was **a tiller of 
the ground." This was the beginning of agri- 
culture; andalthough,bothin point of time, 
and of importance, it stands at the head of 
all branches of human industry, it has de- 
rived less dired: advantage from Discovery 
and Invention, than almost any other. The 
plow, of very early origin; and reaping, and 
threshing, machines, of modern invention 
are, at this day, the principal improvements 
in agriculture. And even the oldest of these, 
the plow, could not have been conceived of, 
untilaprecedentconceptionhadbeen caught, 
and put into practice — I mean the concep- 
tion, or idea, of substituting other forces in 
nature,for man's own muscular power. These 
other forces,as now used, are principally, the 



strength of animals, and the power of the 
wind, of running streams, and of steam. 

Climbing upon the back of an animal, and 
making it carry us, might not occur very 
readily. I think the back of the camel would 
never have suggested it. It was, however, a 
matter of vast importance. The earliest in- 
stance of it mentioned, is when "Abraham 
rose up early in the morning, and saddled his 
ass" (Genesis xxii: 3), preparatory to sacri- 
ficing Isaac as a burnt-offering; but the allu- 
sion to the saddle indicates that riding had 
been in use some time; for it is quite prob- 
able they rode bare-backed awhile, at least, 
before they invented saddles. 

The idea, being once conceived, of riding 
one species of animals, would soon be ex- 
tended to others. Accordingly we find that 
when the servant of Abraham went in search 
of a wife for Isaac, he took ten catnels with 
him; and, on his return trip, "Rebekah arose, 
and her damsels, and they rode upon the 
camels, and followed the man" (Genesis 
xxiv: 61). 

The horse, too, as a riding animal, is men- 
tioned early. The Red Sea being safely passed, 



Moses and the children of Israel sang to the 
Lord** the horse and his rider hath he thrown 
into the sea ' ' ( Exodus x v : i ) . 

Seeing that animals could bear man upon 
their backs, it would soon occur that they 
could also bear other burthens. Accordingly 
we find that Joseph's brethren, on their first 
visit to Egypt, **laded their asses with the 
corn, and departed thence" (Genesis xlii: 26) . 

Also it would occur that animals could be 
made to draw burthens after them, as well 
as to bear them upon their backs; and hence 
plows and chariots came into use early enough 
to be often mentioned in the books of Moses 
(Deuteronomy xxii: 10; Genesis xli: 43; 
xlvi: 29; Exodus xiv: 25). 

Of all the forces of nature, I should think 
the levW contains the largest amount of wc- 
tive power — that is, power to move things. 
Take any given space of the earth's surface — 
for instance, Illinois; and all the power ex- 
erted by all the men, and beasts, and running- 
water, and steam, over and upon it, shall not 
equal the one hundredth part of what is ex- 
erted by the blowing of the wind over and 
upon the same space. And yet it has not, so 



far in the world's history, become propor- 
tionably valuable as a motive power. It is ap- 
plied extensively, and advantageously,to sail- 
vessels in navigation. Add to this a few wind- 
mills, and pumps, and you have about all. 
That, as yet, no very successful mode of con- 
trollings and direBing the wind, has been dis- 
covered; and that, naturally, it moves by fits 
and starts — now so gently as to scarcely stir a 
leaf, and now so roughly as to level a forest — 
doubtless have been the insurmountable dif- 
ficulties. As yet, the wind is an untamed, and 
unharnessed force ; and quite possibly one of 
the greatest discoveries hereafter to be made, 
will be the taming, and harnessing of it. That 
the difficulties of controlling this power are 
very great is quite evident by the fa6t that they 
have already been perceived, and struggled 
with more than three thousand years; for 
that power was applied to sail-vessels, at least 
as early as the time of the prophet Isaiah. 

In speaking oi running streams , as a motive 
power, I mean its application to mills and 
other machinery by means of the ^^ water 
wheeT' — a thing now well known, and ex- 
tensively used; but, of which, no mention is 



made in the Bible, though it is thought to 
have been in use among the Romans. (Am. 
Ency.-Mill), the language of the Saviour 
"Two women shall be grinding at the mill, 
etc." indicates that, even in the populous city 
of Jerusalem, at that day, mills were oper- 
ated by hand— having, as yet had no other 
than human power applied to them. 

The advantageous use of Steafn-poiver is, 
unquestionably,a modern discovery. Andyet, 
as much as two thousand years ago the power 
of steam was not only observed, but an in- 
genious toy was actually made and put in 
motion by it, at Alexandria in Egypt. What 
appears strange is, that neither the inventor 
of the toy, nor any one else, for so long a 
time afterwards, should perceive that steam 
would move z/j-^/machinery as well as a toy. 



OF THIS BOOK 25O COPIES WERE 
PRINTED ON FABRIANO ITALIAN 
HAND -MADE PAPER AND I GOO 
COPIES ON AMERICAN DRAWING 
PAPER. THE FRONTISPIECE IS BY 
RAY F. COYLE. PRINTED BY THE 
BLAIR-MURDOCK COMPANY, SAN 
FRANCISCO, UNDER THE DIREC- 
TION OF JOHN HENRY NASH, IN 
THE MONTH OF OCTOBER, I915 



